In June 2024, The Woven Project graced these pages with the Foll remix of their single Winds. It was one of a few singles to get the remix treatment, with friends taking on each track of their 2023 EP, Let Beautiful In.
By Graeme Smith
The full remix EP is released today. Alongside Foll’s remixes, we also get efforts from Club of Rome, NEEB, and Dave Martin. So how was it for The Woven Project to hand their tracks over to others?
“It actually started with a surprise! When Foll delivered the final mix of the original Let Beautiful In EP, he included a bonus — a remix of 44. We loved how he took the track somewhere completely new while still keeping its essence,” the guys explain.
“There were no rules, just complete creative freedom. Everyone involved brought their own personality to the tracks — glitchy electronica, film-noir Americana, jazz-infused grooves, Balearic bliss. We were genuinely excited, and a little nervous, to hear where they would take the songs, but the results were incredible.”
‘Incredible’ is the word. I’ve not heard such diversity and originality on an EP for some time. Foll’s 44 remix gets the collection going in ambient style, with pleasing percussive textures and mysterious snatches of vocals. It builds nicely though a slow-burning intro before soulful vocals come in, giving the track a touch of indie folk.
“The original EP already blurred genre lines,” say The Woven Project, “but the remixes take that even further. It’s a real journey. One moment you’re deep in a smoky jazz club, the next you’re on a sun-drenched Balearic beach, then lost in glitchy ambient textures. What ties it all together is that each remixer respected the heart of the songs while reimagining them in their own way.”
Club of Rome’s take on Victimless Crime is sultry and ponderous while the aforementioned Winds provides an ethereal midpoint. Victimless Crime returns, this time warmly reimagined by (another York Calling favourite) NEEB. Dave Martin’s remix of Let Beautiful In closes the EP with some vibrant techno, giving us a final dance twist.
The Woven Project are not fans of the path most travelled. This EP was originally released as a Bandcamp exclusive, eschewing the mainstream streaming platforms until now. “We’ve always been big fans of Bandcamp, especially the way it supports independent artists,” they say. “It felt like the right place to test the waters, share these remixes with our core audience, and give something special to those who’ve supported us from the start.”
Aside from that, the band also have no fixed line-up and refuse to be defined by genre, something anthetical to a music industry driven by algorithms and audience sizes. “It’s a strange time for music,” they say. “There’s so much focus on ‘content’ and numbers – followers, streams, algorithm placement. While those things have their place, we believe music should still be about connection, not just metrics.”
So, where are the band taking their unique approach next?
“More music! We’re always writing, experimenting, and playing with new ideas. We’ve also been hinting that there may be more remixes in the works… so, who knows? We’d love to take these songs live too. Our line-up is always evolving, but bringing these remixes into a live setting could be really interesting. Watch this space.”
Let Beautiful In: Rewoven is out now via Shy Bairn Records, available to buy as a digital album on Bandcamp. You can give it a listen below.
